We are very excited that the Data Leaders’ Fellowship Programme is now underway, as 10 Chief Officers in charge of Economic Planning got together in the inaugural workshop last week. We established this 8-week fellowship Programme to build the capacity of Chief Officers in charge of Planning and Economic Development Nairobi, Makueni, Isiolo, Mandera, West…
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As an organization, we are passionate about building capacity and supporting county systems, and working with Kilifi County has once again provided an opportunity to support their work in increasing accountability and openness of the county projects that have been undertaken in the County since the inception of devolution in 2013.
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Open government is an inclusive and participatory approach to governance that allows citizens to be involved in the formulation and eventual implementation of public policies, and has been recognized as a catalyst for democracy and inclusivity in sustainable growth. Government is open when it follows the principles of transparency, accountability and participation; key initiatives include open data, public participation, open contracting, open parliament, among others.
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Eight years after it gained popularity in Kenya, WhatsApp is now not only owned by Facebook but has more features added to it making it more appealing for masses and increasing its penetration in most countries worldwide. With the new ownership came new terms and conditions in 2012 which most users agreed to without reading. A new set of terms and conditions were unveiled by the company early this year which caused quite a stir online. Data protection experts, governments and civil societies went up in arms with the new terms and the extent in which individual and business data is collected from the platform. At the Open Institute, we convened an informal lunch time chat to discuss the new terms and conditions and to try and explain what the impact of them would be to the everyday citizen.
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What a year this has been! For many of us, this year has been an unparalleled horror show one that will not easily be forgotten. For us, this has been a pivotal year – one of the most interesting complexities. On the one hand, 2020 was billed to be the year that we move to…
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Deep in the heart of the county of champions, in the scenic and partly remote wards of Arror, Tambach, Kayego and Kaptarakwa, the activities for the citizen-led household census in Elgeyo Marakwet County are underway, targeting data collection in 101,000 households. The training of enumerators, data collection and data entry activities have been taking place…
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When we started the Open Institute, we never imagined that it would achieve so much in such a relatively short time. Don’t get us wrong – our ambition was, and still is, humongous. We truly want to see a world where citizens are so active that they tell their governments what to do and how…
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When undertaking any project, it is important to note that it will usually involve multiple stakeholders; and each one potentially has the ability to speed up, slow down or completely obstruct the project’s progress. Most importantly, stakeholders play a role in ensuring steady progress, focusing on goals and improvement of the general quality of project…
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In our work in citizen-generated data, we have had experiences that have demonstrated that the results of our projects are usually high-impact and long-lasting. This inspires us to keep working with citizens empowering them to use data to drive change within their communities. When citizens understand the power of data, they turn into data champions…
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In Kenya, there is a widespread notion that, in order to receive services from a public office, one must know someone influential in that office. Picture this: when a child is born in Kenya, the parent must register the birth with the Registrar of Births. It is common to find new parents who need this…
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